1-inch DEX Aggregator to launch on zkSync Era

1inch, the decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, is launching a version of its platform on zkSync Era, the recently released Ethereum scaling network from Matter Labs.

Launched in March 2023, ZkSync Era uses zero-knowledge encryption to allow people to trade on Ethereum with faster speeds and lower fees. Era exists within a rapidly growing category of Ethereum scaling chains, called zkEVMs, which say they will be able to support any app currently based on Ethereum.

By porting the protocol to the zkSync Era, 1inch becomes one of the largest crypto apps so far to be launched on a zkEVM, or zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine.

ZkSync Era and its main competitor, Polygon zkEVM, are both still in beta mode, but have recently been opened up to developers.

1inch, which captured $175 million in a 2021 Series B funding round, is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol best known for its exchange aggregator – a tool that allows crypto traders to find the best prices across different DEX platforms. DEXs are blockchain-based trading platforms that use smart contracts, rather than centralized intermediaries, to allow people to trade between cryptocurrencies.

Along with its DEX aggregator, 1inch is also launching its limit order protocol on zkSync Era.

Era is currently the leading zkEVM by total value locked. There is currently $250 million worth of cryptocurrency circulating in Era’s decentralized financial ecosystem according to L2beat, which tracks Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling chains. Polygon zkEVM only has $4 million, and other zkEVM builders like ConsenSys and Scroll have yet to launch on the Ethereum mainchain.

Era’s footprint in Ethereum’s broader layer 2 ecosystems continues to pale in comparison to Arbitrum and Optimism – “Optimistic rollup” networks that are less sophisticated than zkEVMs but launched over a year earlier. They have attracted billions of dollars to their own networks to scale Etheruem.

Decentralized finance “has been a driving force behind zkSync Era’s explosive growth,” Alex Gluchowski, CEO and co-founder of Matter Labs, said in a statement. “We expect that the deployment of 1 inch will contribute to even greater adoption and use of the zkSync Era.”

Ethereum’s core developers expect that layer 2 scaling networks – optimistic rollups and zkEVMs – will soon become the primary entry point for most of Ethereum’s users.